Education, From The Capitol To The Classroom

Stories about students: How does education policy affect the way students learn and grow? Can schools meet their needs as they balance ramped-up testing with personal changes and busy schedules? And are students who need help getting it?

Stories about educators: How are those responsible for implementing education policy in schools − from classroom teachers, to district administrators, to school board members − affected by changes at the top? And how well do they meet their challenge of reaching students with varying abilities and needs?

Stories about school assessment: With an increased push for 'accountability' in schools, what can test scores tell us about teacher effectiveness and student learning − and what can't they tell us? What does the data say about how schools at all levels are performing?

Stories about government influence: Who are the people and groups most instrumental in crafting education policy? What are their priorities and agendas? And how do they work together when they disagree?

Stories about money: How do local, state, and federal governments pay to support the education policies they craft? How do direct costs of going to school − from textbooks to tuition − hit a parent or student's bottom line? And how do changing budgets and funding formulas affect learning and teaching?

But Walker says while he believes the new expectations meet the state’s definition of college and career readiness, the new standards aren’t rigorous enough to ensure Indiana students will be able to compete internationally.

“On one level, it seems to be sufficient that students make it into college without needing remediation,” Walker tells StateImpact. “That’s a very different standard than I think what is going to be necessary for students to be successful in the long term.”

Walker, who voted to adopt Common Core in 2010 and has expressed his continued support for the nationally-crafted standards, thinks the entire process has gotten too wrapped up in politics. He says people are more worried about where the new standards came from than whether they will ensure good outcomes in Indiana classrooms.

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“I’ve maintained from day one I thought the whole process was ridiculous,” says Walker. “In fact, the politicization has in my mind damaged the final outcome here.”

Common Core opponents rallied before Monday’s Education Roundtable meeting to encourage Gov. Mike Pence to reject the proposed standards. But he praised the new expectations and the process used to create them.

At least one board member, Andrea Neal, plans to vote against the proposed standards. Neal, who was appointed to the State Board last summer, has been a vocal critic of the Common Core.

“When Gov. Pence asked me to go on the State Board of Education last June, I was under the impression he wanted to replace the Common Core with something more rigorous,” she wrote in a statement. “It did not occur to me that we would end up with something even less rigorous than the Common Core.”

Neal has suggested Indiana should return to the math and English language arts standards in use prior to Common Core adoption.